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Against Physician Assisted Suicide: A Palliative Care Perspective


Against Physician Assisted Suicide: A Palliative Care Perspective

Paperback by Jeffrey, David; Macfarlane, Fraser

Against Physician Assisted Suicide: A Palliative Care Perspective

£24.99

ISBN:
9781846191862
Publication Date:
25 Oct 2008
Language:
English
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:
CRC Press
Pages:
132 pages
Format:
Paperback
For delivery:
Temporarily unavailable
Against Physician Assisted Suicide: A Palliative Care Perspective

Description

The majority of doctors and nurses involved in specialist palliative care reject the legalisation of physician assisted suicide (PAS). This book explores the reasons why the healthcare professionals who have the most experience of caring for dying patients should object to a change in the law. Debate about euthanasia and PAS often arises in response to a well publicised tragic case of unrelieved suffering. Such heart rending stories do not reflect the fact that the majority of people dying have a dignified death. There is a marked disparity between medical intuitions and the philosophers' arguments about euthanasia and PAS. It seems that part of the moral constitution of a doctor is a commitment not to intend the death of a patient and to protect them from harm. The perspective of those who are privileged to care for thousands of dying patients and their families should inform the debate about PAS.This book will enable those who are not working within palliative care to gain an insight into the scope of this speciality and to understand why legalisation of PAS should be resisted to maintain and improve care of dying patients.

Contents

Background to the debate. The language of the debate. The problem of unrelieved suffering. Palliative care. Ethical arguments. Legislation in UK. Learning from experience. Physician assisted suicide in Clinical Practice. The patient's story. Positive approaches to care of the dying.

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